1. Technical Field
The invention relates to an apparatus for providing a substance for the analysis of isotope ratios, the substance or at least part of the substance being contained in a liquid phase, possibly also in undissolved form. In addition, the invention relates to a device for carrying out an isotope ratio analysis.
2. Prior Art
The analysis of isotope ratios is of interest for an extremely wide range of specialist sectors. For example, the elements C, N, S, O, H, Cl are analyzed, which, for the purpose, should be present in the form of the simplest possible molecules (e.g. CO2), in gaseous form and/or in pure form. Isotope mass spectrometers are preferably used for such analyses. However, other analytical techniques can also be used, for example optical spectroscopy.
The substances to be analyzed are normally not present in the desired form but are constituent parts of larger molecules or compounds, for example complex hydrocarbon compounds or nitrogen compounds. Separating the substances to be analysed out of the complex compounds is in principle possible by means of suitable techniques but always intrinsically involves the risk of isotope fractionation; in addition the preparative effort for routine analysis would be disproportionately high in many cases.